We have opened the world’s first dedicated Africa China Banking Centre (ACBC) at our Simmonds Street offices in Johannesburg. The Centre will look to provide a long-awaited platform to link African and Chinese clients with China’s highly networked digital banking and customer knowledge systems.

Staffed by bankers with Chinese language and cultural capability, ACBC is a virtual finance hub for both African and Chinese personal and business banking clients that offers seamless consultation and advisory services via telephone, online or email.

According to George Lo, Head: Africa China Banking, Standard Bank, the launch of the Centre represents a critical opportunity to leverage the full potential of Africa and China’s rapidly evolving trade partnership. He further explains that, as an African bank with global reach, we are uniquely placed to unlock African opportunities by accessing Chinese capability.

Head: Africa China Banking, Standard Bank

Six dedicated bankers will assist clients with day-to-day banking needs, such as card facilities and transactions, internet and self-service banking, cross-border payments, and foreign currency services and support.

In future, we will develop the capability of the Centre to help African enterprises connect with Chinese products and investment opportunities. End-to-end renminbi business solutions will also, in time, be provided to expedite and simplify foreign-exchange transactions. Furthermore, our strategic partnership with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) will help us realise the full potential of deepening Africa-China trade and investment in a unique growth corridor - the development of this dedicated banking centre for Chinese clients in South Africa being one of the practical transactional platforms that cements our relationship.

“With plans for further investment in Africa China Banking Centres in the key African growth hubs of Kenya, Zambia, Nigeria and Ghana before the end of 2017, Standard Bank’s vision is not just to combine African and Chinese capabilities, but to make the sum of Africa and China bigger than the whole,” says Mr Lo. “This is the scale of our challenge, but also the scale of the opportunity that Standard Bank and ICBC are uniquely placed to realise.”

For more information about Standard Bank’s Africa China Banking Centre: